HISTALP
The research project HISTALP ( Historical Instrumental Climatological Surface Time Series of the Greater Alpine Region ) served to record a homogenized database of the climate in monthly resolution for the Alpine region and the surrounding area in Central Europe.
The HISTALP lowland data set (HISTALP AT Lowland) of the Austrian weather service ZAMG begins with the year 1767, and is one of the world's longest and highest quality data series.
Parameters and quality requirements
The research area was divided into four sub-regions (north-west, north-east, south-west and south-east) in order to better assign climatic influences. There is also a region that includes alpine weather stations. The following meteorological parameters are recorded: air pressure, air temperature, precipitation, sunshine duration and cloud cover.
The area around the Alps was used as the study area , including larger areas of Central Europe and the Mediterranean. The altitude range is between 0 and 4800 meters. The complicated orography and different influences of the Atlantic, Mediterranean and continental east represent a major challenge for weather and climate research.
An attempt was made to use a measuring network that was as dense as possible and yet homogeneously distributed. At the same time, it should include centuries-old series of measurements for the selected weather observation parameters. The longest series of measurements (in Kremsmünster ) goes back to the year 1760 and is considered the longest continuous stationary weather record in Europe. The data set of the Vienna University Observatory has also been closed since 1775; these two series could be reliably correlated. The project placed high demands on the data sets with regard to inhomogeneities and outliers in the weather observations.
Goal and cooperation
The aim of the research project was to create a suitable climate database for the greater Alps to quantify regional climate change with the help of the longest possible, homogenized and outlier-tested and corrected instrumental time series with a sufficiently high spatial resolution.
The HISTALP database was set up at the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG). It was created under the direction of Ingeborg Auer and Reinhard Böhm .
Additional funding for HISTALP came from the FWF project CLIVALP and the EU FP5 project ALP-IMP. Ongoing updates and extensions of additional elements as well as an increase in the temporal resolution by the ZAMG are in planning.
The dense data network of the HISTALP project is based on the voluntary - so far not institutional - collaboration of more than 20 data producers (national weather services and regional data centers). Climate and climate impact researchers have the option of using raster data sets of various spatial resolutions without having to contact more than 20 data producers individually.
Application and prices
The research project with its database finds an important application in the area of research and observation of climate changes in Europe and in the Alpine region. Further application examples are:
- CRSMs (Coarse Resolution Subregional Means)
- Grid-1-mode data for the elements air temperature, precipitation and air pressure
- A spatially high-resolution precipitation data set with 1/6 degree resolution was created in close cooperation with the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia. It consists of 2448 monthly absolute precipitation fields starting with 1800.
HISTALP was awarded the 2006 Climate Protection Prize from the Austrian Hagel Insurance .
literature
- I. Auer, et al .: HISTALP - historical instrumental climatological surface time series of the Greater Alpine Region. In: International Journal of Climatology. No. 27, 2006, pp. 17-46. doi : 10.1002 / joc.1377
- Reinhard Böhm, et al .: A new website with instrumental quality climate data for the greater Alps back to 1760. In: Wiener Mitteilungen. Volume 216, 2009 ( pdf , on zamg.ac.at).
See also: HISTALP related Publications. ZAMG website - complete overview, with numerous downloads
Web links
- Welcome to HISTALP! zamg.ac.at.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ingeborg Auer, Barbara Chimani, P. Amand Kraml, Silke Adler: Very early instrumental measurements in Austria 18 th century climate data in Austria, still unexploited. Poster, Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics. Vienna (2013), ( pdf, zamg.ac.at ).
- ↑ 40 years of climate research: Ingeborg Auer is retiring. Website of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics. Published November 25, 2016, accessed October 13, 2019.
- ↑ Climate Protection Prize 2006 - Hagelversicherung awards climate protection prize for the sixth time ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on November 16, 2011)
